a couple "wanna be" laser moduls

[LaNeK779]

well, the reason for posting this in the lounge is that these are not finished moduls yet and i'd just like to share at this stage (as i can't foresee a completion time, being swamped at work this time around)

the reason that the pics are so low-res and crappy is that i prefer to take crappy pics of the first stages of my builts, so that i will get this "old" and "worn" feel when i look back at them after the project is complete. So the crappy pics are not due to incompetence, but due to a certain artistic view of things

the first one actually emits blue photons. it has been built to house two blue diodes (runs on one at the moment), has room for a pbs in front of them and a small optic table just enough for a pair of anamorphic prisms. Got a 30x30x60mm piece of alu, went to a local machinist and there it is. Then, there is a 40x?x5mm baseplate so i can sandwich a tec in between. flexmod from drLava, "industry standard" p1t8ull PBS and anamorphic pair, lasorb from francesco, a 405-g-2 lens and matching housing from laser66. So here it is, a crude, unfinished blue one. just don't ask about beam specs, i have not measured anything (although judging by the naked eye, i get similar results to the builts in here, a fat but usable beam with a divergence around the 1-1.2 mrad mark. i'd like to thank all the above for the parts and zoof for the prism templates.






The second one is just uncut or left-over pieces of alu placed on top of each other at the moment. Nothing is drilled, nothing is bolted in place yet. This will eventually turn out to be a 12 banger around the 2-2,3w mark, set up like two 6-diode-builts placed side by side. I will use the o-like lens, going for a 3x5 beam from each diode with a low divergence. Then i am going to stack each 6-diode array like ::: for a beam of 9x10mm at apperture. This way i end up with two beams of 9x10mm, which will be combined with a waveplate and pbs and then run through 3:1 telescopics.

Putting it this way, i have room left in front of the knife edging mounts to place a couple of flexmods, the tec controller, the pbs and waveplate and the telescopic lenses. Maybe in the far future, i will start swapping the LOCs in this one with 640 diodes and get a module with 8 LOCs and 4 6385DGs, or a 6 + 6, who knows? For mirrors, i will use the ones that came with the 815 sleds. My only problem at this time is that i am missing 2 micro-mounts, as i only have ten But i'll think of something for sure

I can't find enough words to thank p1t8ull for the mounts and his generosity, this built will be finished only because of his mounts. I wouldn't be attempting a 12 setup without these little gems. I'd also like to thank andy_con for all his shared projects in here, they were a source of serious inspiration. I couldn't forget solarfire too, for sharing his own design and discussing a few points with me

So here is the second crude, unfinished, wanna-be laser modul, next to the above mentioned blue





evetything is going at snail pace, but i don't really care.

cheers,
chris

[dnar]

Pure pr0n, keep em coming!

[LaNeK779]

just a quick update here. things still go at snail pace, but still progress can be reported (most of it theoretical, general projector layout etc but some of it concerns the actual photon emmiting parts)

the blue is now tec cooled (huge thanks to solarfire for the info and huger thanks to dnar for the actual programming of THE KEG!!). the angle of the prisms seems final, i'm settling for the highest possible angle, close to the zoof's brewster template





some progress can be reported on the red, too. i tried some lenses, aixiz plastic and metal, o-like and modwerx and they all invariably resulted in a large round beam, around 5-6 mm in diameter. then i used a 405-g-2 in a dave-lens-barrel. you can see what happened below, 405-g-2 on the left, aixiz plasic on the right. i guess i will have to throw in a couple of 405-g-2 lenses so as to make the beam fit on the PBS, or just to see what happens if you telescope beams that come from different lenses



nothing is even close to being permanently bolted, i'm just toying around with harvesting diodes, trying out lenses and thinking over general layout



i'm also considering my green options... and my funding options... i have a pair of light alloy (magnesium) marchesini rims to fit any yamaha r1 1998-2003 or a gsxr1000 (03) if anybody would fancy a trade

i'll get back to you as soon as there is anything worthy of getting back to you. a cry of solidarity to all the low budget diy laserists out there. one day, we shall prevail!


edit: I can now verify beyond all doubt that it is absolutely and utterly futile to try any metalwork without at least a pillar drill. If you're going for a quad setup just buy the mounts. It is the cheapest way. If you want anything bigger, just get a pillar drill. So simple! (so, the quad setup is around the break even point of a make-or-buy decision)

[LaNeK779]

i'm getting perplexed in theory and practice of building my "big" rgb gets left behind...

still, i got a chance to try some things last week and got a better understanding over possible designs. the outcome was a small rgb, put together really quickly, assembled like by a 5 year old. i'm sure it will give you all a good laugh

first of all, i played around with dave's mounts and a p1t8ull pbs just to get the idea. i rotated diodes, studied some posts here, fiddled with alignment and after a couple of hours of thinking, reading and understanding, i got my first dual with a pbs





then, i had a spare dave-mount and a spare 445 diode and a pair of p1t8ull prisms, so i put together a quick blue one



at this point, an el-cheapo 100mw ttl greenie just siting there, was too much of a challenge, so i decided to tear apart an old rgv of mine, use the galvos (pt-40) and dichros + mounts. the basic idea was to use mm1s for beam steering onto the dichros that sat on thorlabs 2axis mounts. the whole jig was built upon two sheets of plexiglass just for speed and ease of construction. after all, this is just a test jig to help me learn about pbs combining and "secondary" beam steering

the outcome, as i promised above, looks like it was built by a 5 year old, but it does the job alrite. I even put it in the car and drove around for 10 km, just to see what would happen. Alignment stayed put, so i'm happy with the sturdiness of the build. Any sort of unsued cable length or heatsink i had got used in it, just to supplement the low-cost idea

of course colour balance is way off, as the greenie is a ttl and i have not tuned for white, but i don't care much (although i do get a sort of turqoise white out of it). this build is going to "live" for a couple more months before i tear it apart again. in the meantime, i will have gained some more knowledge of lds and i will be closer to completing my proper rgb. i have to say though, that due to the secondary beam steering, nearfield alignment was a breeze, much easier than expected, so i'll stick to this method in the future

some double sided tape that dsli_jon sent over with the MM1s proved more than valuable (muchos gracias sir jon!!)

so, here goes, feel free to ROFL





the beam path



and some beamshots (some show this "projector" daisy chained to another el cheapo 100mw green of world class laserworld spec + untuned scanners). all shots were taken with the camera on a tripod and using a remote, i was overly cautious not to "audience-scan" myself with this fearsome 500mw bloodthirsty animal. ha ha ha ha!!

this will keep me happy until i decide on which lenses to use for my 12 red and dual 445 and start making my big rgb

here goes, i hope you have as much fun reading this as i had building it














in some pics i used my trusty bag of hand rolling tobacco as a smoke-machine. bad for the health as we all know, but it was the only thing i could use at that time

[Carl B]

That quickie RGB build is looking quite good there Chris.
The size of the plexiglass base plate wouldn't happen to be the same size as a certain projector winging it's way to you by any chance?

Carl

[LaNeK779]

well, it is quite bigger but, as you can see, there is lots of unused real-estate in it, so it could fit on a "hypothetical" projector with a "hypothetical" 240x298 mm baseplate

of course, plexiglass will have to go. i have a 10mm aluminium plate that will support all these bits and bobs. and i have started contemplating a quad 660, as i can't convince my self to fork out the funds for dual opnext at this time.


another finding of the above build is that maybe i should use a 2:1 telescope to expand the green beam, to match beam diameters of the blue and reds. haven't seen anyone doing it, but maybe it is a good idea, depends on the green beam. This 100mw had a really thin beam, around 1-1,5 mm

[flecom]

I would advise putting the red closest to the scanners since its going to be the weakest color... besides that, looks like your coming right along

[Phredy1]

Nice build and pics. I like it!!!

in some pics i used my trusty bag of hand rolling tobacco as a smoke-machine. bad for the health as we all know, but it was the only thing i could use at that time

Pot works better (so they say...) but a little expensive.

[Carl B]

of course, plexiglass will have to go. i have a 10mm aluminium plate that will support all these bits and bobs. and i have started contemplating a quad 660, as i can't convince my self to fork out the funds for dual opnext at this time.

A 10mm base plate is what I plan to use to replace the steel folded one in the case now for my RGB build. The 10mm base plate will put all the optics and lasers at an almost perfect height for the beam to exit the window near centre with out intruding in to the bottom half of the case for the electronics.

Carl

[flecom]

Nice build and pics. I like it!!!



Pot works better (so they say...) but a little expensive.

I bought an optic from someone who used that to make smoke and let me tell you, it leaves some nasty stuff on your optics, its like a sticky tar... so ya, no so great lol